• Pardes Seleh

Ivana Trump's two golden rules of parenting

I'm gonna start this post by saying I don't like Wendy Williams. I've never liked Wendy Williams. I'm not even sure why at this point. Everything she does and says tends to annoy the heck out of me, like nails on a chalkboard. She is always way too enthusiastic and loud (but like in a forced way) and keeps making weird creepy faces like this one:

Nonetheless, she managed to keep me watching her show for an entire 13 minutes by interviewing President Trump's ex-wife, Ivana Trump. Ivana is the first woman to marry Trump and the mother of his three oldest children: Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.

It's a pretty interesting interview. Ivana reveals how she raised her kids to be as successful as they are-- and trust me, the three oldest Trump kids are over-achievers, even for their own status. Even people who hate their father admire at their success, manners, and work ethic.

"People were stopping me on the streets, on the airports, and coming to my table in the restaurants, they say 'Ivana, how did you raise three fabulous kids?' And yes I did," Ivana boasts.

She's not wrong. I'm sure the Trump kids learned a lot about success from their dad, but seeing as how they spent a lot more time with their mom, her parenting advice should be lapped up like honey. Here are Ivana's two golden rules for parenting:

1. Give them discipline and structure

"They knew they wake up at seven o'clock in the morning, eight o'clock they go to school, and... after school, they would go and see their father to say hello, and he was on the phone, and they were playing with the lego in the office, listening to his conversations, and then I kept them busy, busy, busy, with after school activities and I put them (Ivanka)-- piano classes, ballet classes, singing classes. [The] kids were skiing, they were playing golf, they were karate classes. You keep your kids busy, busy, busy, that they have no time to get in trouble."

A subset of that rule is teaching your kids basic values:

"I taught them the value not to cheat, steal, and lie; not to take drugs, smoke cigarettes, and surely no liquor," she says.

2. Don't give them too much money

"I have my friends they give their kids unlimited black American Express card. What do kids do? They have no incentives to get up before 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and then they go shopping because they are bored, and they have money to buy liquor, drugs, and cigarettes. So you don't give them too much money. You give them enough money to be able to take a friend for slice of pizza, or buy the hamburger, but that is it."

Not bad advice, I'd say. Looking back at my own childhood, I'd attribute a big part of my drive for financial success to the fact that I never knew how much money my dad had. I hated that as a kid, but I've come to value the appreciation for money I've gained because of it.

On another note-- ever wonder about Donald Trump's courting tactics? He's done it so many times, and he got a woman like Melania to marry him-- so there must be something to learn there-- even though they all knew about his shitty cheating habit. In the Wendy Williams interview, Ivana also mentions how he courted her into marrying him.

Watch the full interview below:

#IvankaTrump #donaldtrump #EricTrump #DonaldTrumpJr #IvanaTrump #WendyWilliams #parenting

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